The present invention relates to a dual-liquid ornament having exclusive magnetic floating body driving mechanism, and more particularly to a dual-liquid ornament having a magnetic floating body driving mechanism rebuilt from a common mass-produced clock movement, so that the dual-liquid ornament can be produced at low cost and a magnetic floating body in the ornament is magnetically driven by the driving mechanism to move without adversely affecting the accuracy of a clock included in the ornament.
Currently, there is a type of liquid ornament having magnetically driven floating body available in the markets. This type of liquid ornament mainly includes a closed clear container that is fully filled with a clear liquid and has a single floating body disposed therein. The floating body has a magnetic body, such as a magnet, attached thereto. A transmission mechanism outside the container brings a magnet of suitable magnetic intensity to move along with it and thereby distantly and magnetically drives the floating body to move in the container. Such liquid ornament can be generally divided into two types, namely, mono-liquid and dual-liquid ornaments that have different structural designs and produce different decorating effects.
The mono-liquid ornament includes a closed container in which only one type of liquid is filled. U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,444 entitled xe2x80x9cSwimming toy Fishxe2x80x9d discloses a mono-liquid ornament that employs a motor or a musical box movement as a source of transmission power. By different designs of gear set, one or more magnets are brought to rotate along with the gears and thereby generate changeful magnet fields, magnetically inducing a toy fish to move around in a liquid container as if swimming in the ornament.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,463,826 entitled xe2x80x9cSwimming toy Fish Aquarium Having Multiple toy Fish and Different Magnet Positionsxe2x80x9d discloses a structure similar to that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,444.
European Patent Application published under Pub. No. 0627248A2 also entitled xe2x80x9cSwimming toy fish Aquarium Having Multiple toy Fish and Different Magnet Positionsxe2x80x9d is a corresponding European application of the previously mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,463,826 and discloses a liquid ornament the same as that disclosed in the same U.S. Patent.
The dual-liquid ornament includes a closed container in which two different types of liquids, namely, oil and water, are filled. U.S. Pat. No. 5,272,681 entitled xe2x80x9cDynamic Fluid Clockxe2x80x9d discloses a dual-liquid ornament having a second dial that turns at a speed of 1 revolution per minute (1 rpm) and has a magnetic body attached thereto so as to serve as both a time counting means and a source of transmission power.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,848,029 entitled xe2x80x9cMotion Liquid Display Toyxe2x80x9d discloses a liquid ornament having a second pivot that turns every second in order to push a ball-like or a round tubular magnet carrier. The second pivot also serves as both a time counting means and a source of transmission power in the ornament.
The mono-liquid ornament has gradually lost its competition ability in the market, and the dual-liquid ornament containing oil and water and a floating body floating at an interface between the oil and the water is currently very popular in the market. All the above-mentioned mono-liquid and dual-liquid ornaments having magnetically driven floating body of prior art have the following disadvantages:
a. Where a motor is used in the liquid ornament as the source of transmission power, large power consumption is required; and where a musical box movement is used in the liquid ornament as the source of transmission power, the spring must be manually wound every now and then and noise would be produced when winding the spring. Both the motor and the musical box movement require considerably high cost. Moreover, the existing motors for such purpose all have a rotary shaft that rotates too fast to provide desired magnetic transmission effect. That is, the floating body in the ornament magnetically driven by the motor does not move in a manner to create good dynamic scene in the liquid ornament. As a result, an additional reducing gear is frequently required to achieve the desired dynamic display effect of the liquid ornament. And, the reducing gear inevitably increases the material and assembling costs of the ornament to largely adversely affect the competition ability of the ornament in the market.
b. Where a second hand or a second dial of a clock movement is used in a liquid ornament as a source of transmission power, low power consumption and reduced noise can be achieved. The additional clock function of the ornament also attracts more users. However, the acting of the second hand or second dial as a source of transmission power would inevitably cause divergence of torsion of the clock movement, making the mass-produced common clock movement in a state of insufficient torsion and would adversely affect the accuracy of the clock. To maintain good clock function of the liquid ornament, a customized clock movement having sufficient torsion is needed to replace the cheap, mass-produced clock movement. This will, of course, largely increase the cost of the liquid ornament and decrease the competition ability thereof in the market. Moreover, the second dial rotates at a speed of 1 rpm that is too slow to move the floating body in the liquid ornament fast enough to create a dynamic scene in the ornament.
It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop a dual-liquid ornament that can be mass-produced to lower the cost thereof while produces good dynamic display effect and maintains high clock accuracy to increase the competition ability of the ornament in the market.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a dual-liquid ornament having an exclusive magnetic floating body driving mechanism. The floating body driving mechanism is rebuilt from a common mass-produced clock movement by employing the basic structure and most parts of the latter, such that a new gear shaft is formed to rotate at an increased rotary speed about 6 rpm. The new gear shaft is extended from a housing of the floating body driving mechanism and has a magnet carrier connected to an outer end thereof. When the new gear shaft is rotated, the magnet carrier rotates at the same time to drive the magnetic floating body to move in the ornament to show good dynamic scene. The dual-liquid ornament can therefore be produced at low cost and the magnetic floating body thereof can be magnetically driven by the driving mechanism to move in a manner that creates better dynamic scene in the ornament.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a dual-liquid ornament having a magnetic floating body driving mechanism rebuilt from a common mass-produced clock movement, so that the dual-liquid ornament has two different movements separately for clock and for power transmission, allowing the magnetic floating body to move in a manner that creates better dynamic scene in the ornament without adversely affecting the accuracy of the clock included in the ornament.